Mobile Beat Magazine

MOBILE BEAT #189 - DECEMBER 2017
Raising Your Game
In this issue, you'll find a bunch of great ideas for improving your DJ business and your personal performance in the coming year. Along with the "regular" articles there is the first in a multi-issue selection of material from our presenters for Mobile Beat Las Vegas in March - MBLV22. Each piece provides a key point drawn from what they’ll be sharing out at the Tropicana.
Without a doubt, this event provides the best (and the first) opportunity professional mobile entertainers have each year to get new skills, gain knowledge to grow their businesses, enjoy topnotch entertainment, build new mutually b... [read more]

MOBILE BEAT #188 - NOVEMBER 2017
Getting Control
In this issue of Mobile Beat, we offer some thoughts on choosing your music control solution and gear buying in general, as well as good advice on taking care of that other key part of most DJs' setups these days: your laptop. Add to that some interesting perspectives on professionalism and you have an issue that will help you get control of your situation!
~ Dan Walsh, Editor-in-Chief
CONTROLLERS, ETC
Getting Control of the Situation - Dan Walsh
Making Your Controller Choice - Arnoldo Offermann
Thoughts on Hardware & Software - Joe Bunn
The Pherein Principle - Stu ... [read more]

MOBILE BEAT #187 - OCTOBER 2017
Modern Marketing Mix
Welcome to Mobile Beat's latest modern marketing check-in, featuring ideas to tune up and tighten up your marketing mix, right now and for the coming year! And along with these practical tips for improving your connections with potential clients, we also present a bunch of other great articles full of practical DJ info. Enjoy!
~ Dan Walsh, Editor-in-Chief
Click here to view it now!
MARKETING FOR DJS
Online Marketing Choices - Joe Bunn
Redesign Your Website...or Your Routine? - Robert Lindquist
Serve, Don’t Sell - Matt Martindale
What Has Really Changed About Marketing in the La... [read more]

MOBILE BEAT #186 - SEPTEMBER 2017
Looking Beyond Saturday
Corporate Gigs, Community Events and More
This issue of Mobile Beat focuses on ways to fill your weekdays with more than just prep or busy work. Bring in some cold cash in the wedding reception off-season with the ideas you'll find inside!
~ Dan Walsh, Editor-in-Chief
Click here to view it now!
FOCUS: LOOKING BEYOND SATURDAY
Right in Your Own Back Yard - Stu Chisholm
How to Book More Corporate Gigs - Staci Nichols
Keeping the Heat on When Wedding Season Goes Cold - Robert Lindquist
About Balance - Mike Ficher
Family Events in Focus - Jay Maxwell
OTHER FEATURES
Traps -... [read more]

I recently went to sales seminar that dealt with companies that were positioned in the A/V industry. While learning a ton of new techniques, I was also able to see that the same problems that affect the DJ industry pretty much affect the A/V industry. It was quite scary, in fact.
A lot of time was spent on networking so I thought I would share some of what was talked about, as well as some of my own thoughts.
It’s common knowledge (or it ought to be) that a networking event is not a place you go to ask for business. It is not a place you go to hang out with the people you know. It is not a place you go to stand by yourself in the corner praying to god that it will all be over soon.
It is a place that you go to set the groundwork for getting business. You are there, as well as everyone else, to meet... [read more]

To be candid, connecting with others and the fine art of networking has delivered more return on my investment than any other marketing tool in my business. With over 1,550+ documented weddings personally performed at the time of writing this, a degree in marketing and lots of real world experience, that says a lot!
The reality is, networking, when done correctly, yields tremendous results. It takes time because we are connecting — in effect, building relationships based on the delicate currency of trust.
The next time you attend a networking event, look carefully, and you’ll see three distinct types of individuals guaranteed to be there: Givers, Takers and Matchers. This is perfectly described in the blockbuster book, Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success by Adam Grant, PhD at Wharton... [read more]

My long-time readers will recall the story of my first DJ system, a huge monstrosity built around a DJ “coffin” with two turntables, a full-sized mixer, two racks with cassette decks, dual CD player, two Sony Minidisc decks, a drum machine, and a wired and wireless mic. A stretch of box truss held a massive light show, with eight “intelligent” fixtures and several standard lights, topped-off by a 16” glass mirror ball. Why did I build such a rig? Well, back in the 1980s and early ‘90s, one frequent client was a local singles club that had dances in a school gym. It had a full-sized stage. When I first spoke to their organizers, I heard many complaints about their previous entertainer, who had one last scheduled engagement. I decided to be a proverbial “fly on the wall.”
I slipped-in near th... [read more]

Today, with just about every DJ business involved with some form of online storage of data such as customer lists, employee information, receipts, tax documents, accounting info and, of course, credit cards, mobile entertainment businesses are increasingly vulnerable to cybercrimes like online identity theft, hacking or phishing.
Surprisingly, nearly 83 percent of small businesses do not have a contingency plan outlining procedures for responding to and reporting data breach losses despite the fact that, according to the National Cyber Security Alliance, a nonprofit cyber security educational organization, one in three small businesses is a victim of cybercrime each year—with 60 percent of those victimized going out of business within 6 months.
A data breach or hacking incident can not only harm... [read more]

At some point a prospective client has asked you this question: "What makes you different from the other guys?" It's all about personality, right? Do clients really book you based on blinky lights and big speakers? To really define who is different and unique in our industry there have to be benchmarks; those entertainers who set standards and keep raising the bar. Curtis Whipple knows all about that.
I first met Curtis at a convention about five years ago. He was quiet, but moved with swagger and had a big smile. Curtis has one of those magnetic personalities and styles that make you want to hang out with him. He just exudes old school cool. His approach to events and entertaining is just as interesting. He is a DJ with a mission: Saving souls one gig at a time.
Mike C: What was your first experience a... [read more]

Imagine standing next to a jet airplane with the engine running and trying to have a conversation with someone. Now imagine that’s how your clients and their guests feel when your music is too loud.
Now imagine that you have to set up that plane by yourself, run the engines for a 100 people, then tear it all down and pack it away afterwards. If that’s how it feels at the end of the night once you’re done DJing a wedding, then it might be time to rethink your setup.
Think of this scenario, you’re at a wedding and there are two tables three feet from your system. Who is going to complain the most that it’s too loud all night long? And worse, who do they always seem to put at those two tables? That’s right, grandma and grandpa. Don’t you think they’re going to feel that its like sitting nex... [read more]